Bunbury Locks Down - COVID-19

As the world’s population experiences the ebbs and flows of the Covid-19 pandemic, in an era of 24/7 news, imagine what it must have been like in years past when contagious diseases were less easily controlled or remedied, when the very next ship on the horizon could bring disaster with it…

Bunbury has experienced border shutdowns on several occasions since the first settlers arrived, as locals have battled a variety of diseases from smallpox to typhoid, influenza, diphtheria, the plague and polio.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Bunbury pushed for the establishment of sound freshwater supplies and sanitation, as the swampiness of the area on which Bunbury was established had caused issues with contamination for some years, and posed a significant risk to the community from diseases like typhoid and dysentery.

In April 1893 the Municipal Council was appointed a local board of health to consider the best way of preventing an outbreak of smallpox in Bunbury. A site was chosen for a quarantine ground and hospital. Dr Lovegrove was appointed Health Officer. A by-law was unanimously passed to have all passengers, vehicles and parcels fumigated and disinfected before entering the town boundaries. In the event of the Government approving this by-law, toll bars were to be erected at the main entrances to the town. It was decided all passengers and cargo from Perth by sea would be fumigated and Bunbury appointed an Inspector of Nuisances. Tenders were called for the supply of beds and bedding for the new hospital – with no expense spared in keeping Bunbury free from the epidemic.

In 1903 the captain of the barque Lingard reported two cases of bubonic plague when the ship arrived at Bunbury. Dead rats were found on the ship which came from South Africa. All contacts were inoculated and the vessel quarantined.

In June of 1909 the ship Zoroaster brought with it a case of the plague; rigorous quarantine was enforced and it was noted that the ship also has an outbreak on its previous visit to Bunbury.

As much of the world was heading towards World War 1, Bunbury was fighting a war of its own. In 1914, as a result of the “scare” arising from an epidemic in Sydney, 3000 out of 4000 of Bunbury's population received smallpox vaccinations. In May it was reported that a visiting sailor had brought smallpox to Bunbury, with seven cases, including the matron and a nurse at Bunbury Hospital. The initial patients were the sailor who introduced smallpox, two Englishmen and a boy who occupied beds adjacent to the source.

The town was quickly declared a quarantine area with the disease being “of a particularly virulent and objectionable nature”. Outposts were stationed at each of the exit roads and vaccinated lumpers attended the vessels in the port.

Quarantine regulations were impacting on all classes of business, with local traders the heaviest losers. Farmers were not able to enter the town to secure their usual supplies and it was thought that unless the embargo was lifted soon a large proportion of shop assistants would be sent on holidays. By early June, the boy, Morrison, had died, however there being no new cases in the town, it was seen as free from infection, as all the cases had been contracted either in the hospital while the sailor was there or at the quarantine station.

At the end of the war, the world was gripped by the Spanish Flu and a Bunbury Health Board meeting in October 1918 noted that the Health Officer had received instruction to refuse entry of any ships from South Africa where the disease was widespread; they were to be sent to Fremantle for quarantine.

Another disease that terrified Australian parents was infantile paralysis (polio) and early in 1948 Bunbury Health Inspector F. Senior reported he had received authority from Commissioner for Public Health Doctor Cook to meet all ships arriving in the town from New Zealand and South Australia to prevent spread.

Children under 16 were not be permitted ashore unless they were to disembark in the town. If they embarked, they were placed in three weeks' quarantine.

Written by Christine Hunter for the Streets of Bunbury project